'[HOA] said that sunflowers are not allowed': Guy enlists lawyer's help to get even with HOA, maliciously complies with contract by planting corn

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Aug 29, 2023 8:00 AM EDT

Imagine being a lawyer and having someone walk into your office with a problem about sunflowers. That's right: this guy's axe to grind with his HOA was all about the row of sunflowers he wanted to plan outside of his house. This story serves as yet another example of why HOAs merely exist to cause drama, enforce silly rules, and watch you suffer the consequences. It's like having to endure adult detention, but the rules are even more ridiculous and even less clear. 

 

However, this man seemed to have the audacity and the resources to get even with his HOA. He enlisted the help of a lawyer, who shared his side of the story via this thread on Reddit's r/MaliciousCompliance subreddit. After reviewing the man's contract with his HOA, the lawyer did see that sunflowers were, in fact, included on an extensive list of forbidden plants. However, the lawyer saw that despite the list seemingly including nearly everything under the sun, the HOA's lawyer forgot to include corn. When OP informed his client of this fact, the client figured out exactly how to maliciously comply with this nonsensical rule.

 

What happened next just goes to show that when you expose the flaws behind meaningless policies in the faces of said policymakers, you might end up getting exactly what you want. This guy clearly had the money, time, and resources to be able to get a good enough lawyer to fight back in the first place; however, we have to applaud his followthrough here. Thank you for your service, sir!

 

Keep scrolling below for the full story and for the best reactions in the comments section. For more, check out this post about another HOA compliance tale.

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  • 01
    Plant - "Won't let me plant sunflowers? Fine."
    via Gérôme Bruneau
  • 02
    Font - Won't let me plant sunflowers? Fine. M OC Story happened a couple of years ago, but it's my favorite lawyer story and I hope you enjoy (none of the following is legal advice, don't take legal advice from randos on the internet). TL:DR - client gets to plant sunflowers. Client walks into the office and asks us for a contract review. He then hands over an HOA contract. Before slogging through a whole HOA contract, I asked him what he was hoping to accomplish.
    via u/MeowSchwitzInThere
  • 03
    Font - "They want me to dig up my sunflowers." "Your... sunflowers?" "Yes, I planted a row of sunflowers outside my house. They pranced by and said that sunflowers are not allowed per the contract I signed. So I want you to tell me if that is true or not."
    via u/MeowSchwitzInThere
  • 04
    Font - "Sir, before anything else I need to tell you that this will likely be an hourly fee bill. HOAs are notorious for dragging things out. So these could quickly become expensive sunflowers." "I don't care. This is America and I should be able to plant sunflowers
    via u/MeowSchwitzInThere
  • 05
    Font - Still thinking he wasn't that serious about sunflowers, I asked for a three hour retainer. He immediately pulled out a checkbook and paid for four hours. So I buckled down to review the alleged anti-sunflower clause. Just for reference, the sunflowers he wanted to plant were really big (5ft) and all along the front of the house. It was a very substantial amount of sunflowers.
    via u/MeowSchwitzInThere
  • 06
    Font - The contract did indeed contain a clause, with a very thorough list, on which plants were and were not allowed to be planted. The list had just about every plant I could think of, in alphabetical order (think apple, banana, cauliflower, dill...). Sunflowers included. Corn was not included, which becomes very important later.
    via u/MeowSchwitzInThere
  • 07
    Font - Quick legal point - if you write 'no dogs allowed' it is normally assumed that you are talking about all dogs generally. If you write 'no labs, golden retrievers, or poodles allowed' it is normally assumed that all other dogs are allowed. Sometimes a not great attorney will write a super long list to pad hours (read: charge more) instead of just writing 'no plants without prior approval' or something.
    via u/MeowSchwitzInThere
  • 08
    Font - I called the client back in for the bad news. In explaining the above legal point, I let him know that the HOA got a raw deal from whoever drafted the contract. "No can do on the sunflowers. But if it makes you feel any better they were probably over billed by whoever wrote this contract. Pretty shoddy work too, they even forgot to write down 'corn' but they included nonsense like 'dragon fruit'."
    via u/MeowSchwitzInThere
  • 09
    Font - "So yes to corn, no to sunflowers?" "I didn't really check the contract for corn. But its not prohibited in the plant section, so probably?" "Excellent. That'll work." I thought he was oddly happy with bad news. Then two or three weeks later he came in with a picture of his house, surrounded by huge sunflowers.
    via u/MeowSchwitzInThere
  • 10
    Font - What happened? This guy drove out to the country and bought obnoxiously large and ugly cornstalks. He promptly planted them where the sunflowers had been. When confronted by the HOA he told them (paraphrasing) it the contract lets me plant corn. Then after some negotiation he agreed to take the corn down, in exchange for permission to plant sunflowers. to !
    via u/MeowSchwitzInThere
  • 11
    Font - Now we are friends, he is still a great client, and he lives surrounded sunflowers. by a ridiculous moat of
    via u/MeowSchwitzInThere
  • 12
    Font - jetah Ah yes, the put something worse so you get the thing you want. I'd love to see a community with gardens out front. It's be better than just grass and they can do a food swap after harvest. 5.6k Reply Share
    via u/MeowSchwitzInThere
  • 13
    Font - MeowSchwitzInThere OP 9 If you want a kitten, start by asking for a pony =D. 2.8k Reply Share
    via u/MeowSchwitzInThere
  • 14
    Font - seacogen. So that's why my parents never got me that puppy... B 1.0k Reply Share
    via u/MeowSchwitzInThere
  • 15
    Font - 5+² TexasVulvaAficionado 4 It's also usually an end to a HOA fight if you go with something like "I was going to spend my hobby time on (thing I actually want that they declined) but my second choice will be installing a large HAM radio tower that you can't argue against due to the FCCs emergency broadcasting regulations." FYI S 42.7k Reply Share ...
    via u/MeowSchwitzInThere
  • 16
    Font - nymalous That guy's got a good head on his shoulders. He also consulted the right lawyer. Great story. 1.2k Reply Share
    via u/MeowSchwitzInThere
  • 17
    Font - (44) beccaboben. HOAS are a deal breaker for me, if I buy a house, I want to be able to make my own choices about my own property, 519 Reply Share
    via u/MeowSchwitzInThere
  • 18
    Font - securitysix Either this guy has " you" money, or he's just had enough of being trampled on, and he's by God gonna have his way on one thing. 210 Reply Share
    via u/MeowSchwitzInThere
  • 19
    Font - [deleted] Good malicious compliance, but I mostly upvoted for "moat of sunflowers"! Good job doing your lawyer thing! 163 Reply Share
    via u/MeowSchwitzInThere
  • 20
    Font - & KelemvorSparkyfox. Excellent! This is lawyering (and clienting) done right! 151 Reply Share
    via u/MeowSchwitzInThere

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hoa neighbors gardening plants malicious compliance neighborhood garden malicious-compliance-reddit neighborhood-drama petty revenge reddit thread Reddit
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